Knitted web and stocking made therefrom.



L. A. COSTELLO. KNITTED WEB AND STOCKING MADE THEREFROM. APPLIOA'IION FILED JUNE 1'], 1910.

1,025,1 25. Patented May 7, 1912.

2 SHEETS-433111 1.

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L A COSTELLO KNITTED WEB AND STOCKING MADE THEREFROM.

. APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 17,1910. 1 ,025,1 25. Patented May 7, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Lonnr'ro a. cosmrnto, or rmmnnrrua, risnnsnvanm, sssrcnoa; u mrsnn' ASSIGNMENTS, TO SCO'IT & WIILIAMS, INCORPORATED, CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY, I

A conromrron or NEW JERSEY.

was AND srocxmc. mm;

Specification of Letters Ilatent.

Patented May 7, 1912.

Application filed June 17, 1910. Serial at. 507,505.

To all whom it may concern.- Be it known that I, Lona'rro A. Cosrnnno,

' a-citizen of the United States, residing in I special forms of my distortion of'the stocking would n as.

time, one consistin Philadel hia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain fin rovements in Knitted Webs and Stockings lade Therefrom, of which the follo is a specification.

The oEject of my invention to provide a knitted fabric, and especially a tubular of .relatively loose or open weband ano er of closer orstifier web, my invention being intended particu: larly for-a plication to stockings having a relatively oose or open web in thetop of the foot, instep, front of the ankle, and leg, and having a closer and firmer web in the toe, sole, and heel, thiscloser web also, by preference, extending up the back'of the ankle to simulate the ordinary (high spliced heel generally employed in stockings of open texture.

In the accompanying drawings- -Fi'gure 1 is a side view of the foot and ankle portion of a stocking roduced in accordance with m invention; ig. 2 is an exaggerated view 0 part of the web at one side of the stocln'ng, this view being taken on the line M Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is aidiagram re resenting the needles of a circular knitting machine u n which my improved fabric can be pro uced; 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but illustratin another type. of my improved fabric, and %igs.5 and 6 are also views similar -to Fig. 2, but illustratin lmproved web. 7

In the stocking s the front of the ankle, the instep and the top of the foot are composed of relatively loose-knitted or open-work web, as is desirable in stockings for. summer wear, but the toe, the sole, the heel, and the upward extension of the heel into the ankle are composed of more closely knitted and firmer web in order to better resist the wearto which they are subjected in use. If, however, an attempt is made to attain this result simply by tightening the stitches in that portion of the stockingin which the more closely knitted web is desired, this portion of the stocking web would be shorter than the adjoiningportion in which the web was loosely or with slack stitches, and a own in Fig. 1', the leg,

excessxcourses from a to b and result. In order to overcome this objection I increase the number of courses 1n a given length of the closely knitted web as compared with a corresponding len hot the oosely knitted web, and I am t ereby enabledto produce a symmetrical web while attaining all of the advantages of loose knitting in one portion of said web and I close knitting in the other portion. knitted fabric, having, side by side, porthere are,inthe loosely knitted portion of the portion ten courses. In order to efiect this result compensating courses are formed in the closely knitted portion only of the web, and I will describe one method of accomplishing this result in a circular knitting machine, reference being had to Fig. 3 of the drawing, in which the circle of dots represents the needles of the machine, those needles around that half of the machine from a to 6' being acted upon by short draft cams so as to produce close-or tight stitches in the portion w of the web, and those needles around the machine from 0 to (I being acted upon by long draft cams so as to produce longer or-slacker stitches in the portion y of the web. In order to-produce a fabric of the character shown in Fig. 2, the knitting may start, say at a and proceed in the direction web, five courses and in the closely knitted a, b, c, d, the machine first knitting around" and around so as to produce-two complete coursesl and 2 composed in part of close,

3 and 4 of closely knitted web inthe por-- tion as of the fabric, the operations being then repeated with the result that for every two courses of stitches in the slack-knitted portion 3 of the web there will be four,

tion m.

If agreater disparity in the number of courses of stitches in the two portions of the web is desired, every course of around and around knitting'may alternate with a toand-fro knitting operation to fprroduce the cm b tea, which will result in a close-knitted portion of the 'web having three times as many courses of stitches as there are the slack- -courses of stitches in the close-knitted poreating course produce the closely knitted portion m of the knitted portion, or even more than this number may be produced, but in that case it is preferable to produce the selvage stitches at the ends of the to-and-fro courses on different needles in order to prevent the formation of large eyelet holes where said selvage stitches are produced. If, for instance, there are four reciprocating courses, as shown in Fig. 5, the first reciprocating course 2 may end and the second reciprocating course 3 may begin in the wale B knitted on the needle 6, the second course 3 ending and the third reciprocating course 4 beginning in the corresponding wale at the opposite side of the web. The third recipro- 4 may end and the fourth reciprocating course 5 may begin in the Wale B knitted on the needle 6, said fourth course 5 ending and the following continuous course 1 beginning in the corresponding wale at the opposite side of the web, or the first reciprocating course 2 may, as shown in Fig. 6, end and the second reciprocating course 3 may begin in wale B knitted on. the needle I), and the third reciprocating course 4 may end and the. fourth reciprocating course 5 may begin in wale B knitted on the needle b,there being a corresponding re-arrangement of the stitches at the opposite side of the web. In the first case, the needle I) will be elevated or out of action at the ending of the first course 2 but will be picked into action before the completion of the third course 4, and in the second case the needle I) will be in action at the end of the first course 2 and may be picked out of action before the ending of the third course 4, the needle or being correspondingly manipulated in respect to the intervening courses.

It is preferable, to have such a number of courses of stitches in the tight'portion of the knitted web that the same will be somewhat longer than the slack knitted portion, whereby, in use, the tension will be exerted upon the latter, which can stretch most readily, this stretching serving to contract the diameter of the tube which is advisable in the case of a stocking'foot or ankle.

If desired, instead of knitting aroundand-around to produce continuous circular courses of stitches comprising both slackknitted and close-knitted portions of the web, the fabric may as shown in Fig. 4 be produced by to-and-fro knitting entirely in connection with a plurality of yarn guides,

one for supplying the needles u on which the close knitting is produced, an the other for supplyin the needles upon which the knitting is s ack, for instance, to-and-fro knitting may be carried on upon the needles from c to d and from d to c to produce the slack knitted portion 3 of the web, and toand-fro knittting may be carried on upon the needles from a to b and from b to a to web, these two portions being united together at the meeting points by feeding yarn. of one Web to a needle or needles of the section which produces the other web, for instance, the yarn guide for the needles a b may, when moving in one direction, pass beyond the needle 6 and apply its yarn to the needle 0 which has been raised for the purpose, and in moving in the other direction it may pass beyond the needle a and apply its yarn to the needle cl which has been raised for the purpose, and, if desired, also, the yarn guide which supplies theneedles 0 to (1 may pass beyond the needles 0 and d and apply its yarn to the needles I) and a in like manner. By this means loops will be produced for tying together the terminal Wales of the two webs, as shown in Fig. 4. In this case there should be a greater number of reciprocating or to-and-fro knitting operations upon the needles a Z) than upon the needles 0 d, in order to provide the compensating courses of stitches in the closely knitted portion of the web, for instance, as shown in Fig. 4, there may be four courses 1, 2, 3 and 4, knitted upon the needles (1 b for every two courses 1 and 2 knitted upon the needles 0 d, in which case the yarn guide for the needles 0 d will be held stationary or said needles 0 and d will not be operated during the time that two courses of to and-. fro knitting are being knitted upon the needles a I), thus, knitting may be carried on upon the needles from c to d, simultaneously with the knitting upon the needles from a to b, and upon the needles from (Z to 0, simultaneously with the knitting upon the needles from b to a, knitting upon the needles 0 03 being then arrested while knitting upon the needles from a to b and from b to a is continued, the operations being then resumed as before.

A machine such as that designed for the production of stockings with seamless heels and toes lends itself very readily to the production of a stocking in accordance with my invention, since such machine is already provided with means for producing recipro' eating or to-and-fro knitting on that half of the tube upon which the heels and toes are formed, and the production of the comensating courses in the sole portion of the oot, or the rear of the ankle, does not interfere with the proper operation of the picking mechanism whereby the needles are put into and out of action in the formation of said heel and toe pockets.

Although I have described my invention as intended particularly for use in knitting stockings, it is not limited thereto but is applicable to the knitting ofordinary tubular webs upon either circular or straight machines, or even to the knitting of flat webs upon flat bed machines.

A succession of stitches contained in a side, wales, some composed ofcourses of side, wales, some composed of courses of courses extending completely around the tube and presenting .both slack and tight slack-knitted or a tight-knitted portion of the web I term a course, whether it extends from end to end of a row or forms part of a continuous circular course.

I claim:

1. A knitted web having, side by side, wales, some composed of courses of relatively slack stitches and others composed of courses of tighter stitches, a given length of web having a greater number of the tight courses than of the slack courses.

2. A knitted web having, side by side, wales, some composed of courses of relatively slack stitchesand others composed of courses-of tighter stitches, the slack knitted courses having corresponding tight knitted courses, and other courses being contained in the tight knitted wales only.

3. A knitted web having, side by side, wales, some composed of courses of relatively slack stitches and others composed of courses of tighter stitchesythe slack knitted courses having corresponding tight knitted courses, and other courses being contained in the tight knitted wales only, and said latter courses having selvaged ends.

4. A knitted web having, side by side, wales, some composed of courses of relatively slack stitches and others composed of courses of tighter stitches, the slack knitted courses having corresponding tight knitted courses, and other courses being contained in the tight knitted wales only, and said latter courses having selvaged ends contained in different wales of the web.

5. A tubular knitted web having, side by relatively slackstitches and others composed of courses of tighter stitches, some of the courses extending completely around a the tube and presenting both slack and tight stitches, and certain of the tight knitted courses being confined to a portiononly of the tube. v a

6. A' tubular knitted web having, side by relatively slack stitches and others composed of courses of tighter stitches, some of the courses extending completely around the tube and presenting both slack and tight stitches, and certain of the tight knitted courses being confined to a portion only of the tube and having selvaged ends.

7. A tubular'knitted web having, side by side, wales, some composed of courses of relatively slack stitches and others composed of courses of tighter stitches, some of the stitches, and certain of the. tight knitted courses being confined to a rtion only of the tube and having .selvagedzndsin different wales of the web.

8. A stocking having aseamless heel and toe andhaving, in thetop of the foot, wales stitc es and in the sole a greater number of coursesof tighter stitches than there are courses in the top of the foot.

9. A stocking having a seamless heel and toe and having, in the top of the foot, and in the front of the ankle, wales composed of courses of relatively slack stitches and in the sole and rear of the ankle, wales composed of a greaternumber of courses of tighter stitches than there are, courses in the top of the foot and} front of the ankle. 10. A stocking-having a seamless heel and toe and having, in the top of the foot, wales composed "of: courses of relatively slack stitches, and in thesole, wales composedof courses of -lg'tighter stitches, some .of the stitches and" certain of the; tight knitted courses being contained having selvaged ends. p

12. A stocking having'a seamless heel an toe and having, in the top of the-foot, wales only in the sol'e'and .courses ex ending completely around the composed of courses of relatively slack 'i stitches, and in the sole, wales composed of courses of tighter stitches, some of the courses extending completel around the foot, and presenting both slac and tightstitches and certain of the'tight knitted courses being contained only in the sole and having selvaged ends in different wales of the web 13. A stockinghaving a seamless heel and toe and having, in the. to 'of'the .foot andfrbnt of the ankle, wa es composed of,

courses of relativelyslack stitches, and in the sole and rear offthe ankle, wales com,-

posedof-courses of tighter'stitches, some of the courses extending completely around the' foot and anklev and presenting'both slack and tight stitches, and certain of the tight knitte courses being. contained only inth'e' sole and rear of the ankle.-

- 14, A stocking having a seainless heel and V. we and having, in the to of the foot and front of the ankle, wa es composed of courses of relativellyl slack-stitches, and in the sole and rearof t e ankle, wales composed of courses of tighter stitches, someoff the =courses extending ;-com pletely aroundthe; l

"12 andfti ht stitches, and certain'of the tightfoot andankle and presenting both slack knitte courses being contained only in the sole andrearof vagedendsr 15'. A stockinghaving a seamless heel and the"ankle,' and having -sel-' toe and having, in the top of the foot and front of the ankle, wales composed of courses of relatively slack stitches, and in the sole and rear of the ankle, wales composed of courses of tighter stitches, some of the courses extending completely around the foot and ankle and presenting both slack and tight stitches, and certain of the tight knitted courses being contained only in the sole and rear of the ankle, and having 561- 10 vaged ends in different Wales of the web.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

LORETTO A. COSTELLO.

Witnesses: I

KATE A. BEADLE, HAMILTON D. TURNER. 

